67
St. Ampliatus Bishop and martyr, mentioned by St. Paul with Sts. Narcissus
and Urban bishop, joining St. Andrew in missionary labors in the Balkans.
Ampliatus was martyred there with Sts. Narcissus and Urban.
They were slain by Jews and Gentiles for the Gospel of Christ: Romans, 16, 8, 9, 11.
Romæ, via Aurélia,
natális sanctórum Mártyrum Basílidis, Cyríni,
Náboris et Nazárii militum, qui, in persecutióne Diocletiáni
et Maximiáni, sub Aurélio Præfécto, ob Christiáni
nóminis confessiónem, detrúsi in cárcerem et
scorpiónibus laceráti, tandem cápite truncáti
sunt.
Sts Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius
all soldiers martyrs At Rome, on the Aurelian Way, during the persecution
of Diocletian and Maximian, and under the prefect Aurelius, the birthday of
the holy martyrs Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius, all soldiers who
were cast into prison for the confession of the Christian name, scourged with
knotted whips, and finally beheaded.
Nicǽæ, in Bithynia, sanctæ
Antonínæ Mártyris, quæ, in eádem persecutióne,
a Priscilliáno Præside jussa est fústibus cædi,
suspéndi in equúleo, latéribus laniári et flammis
incéndi, ac demum gládio necári.
Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor, and Nazarius MM (RM)
3rd V-end . Ss. Basilides And His Companions,
Martyrs
Seeing that
SS. Basilides, Quirinus (or Cyrinus), Nabor and Nazarius are commemorated
this day in the Roman calendar as well as in the martyrology, and that collects in their honour form part of the liturgy of the Mass
wherever the Roman rite is followed, they cannot be passed over in silence
in such a work as the present. But the reputed “acts” of this group of four
are altogether spurious. The Cyrinus is probably no other than the Quirinus
who has already been discussed on June 4. The whole story seems to have arisen
out of a confusion of names in the Hieronymianum, and to have
been invented afterwards to explain the occurrence of these names together.
The combination is also found in certain early manuscripts of the Sacramentarium Gelasianum, and in the calendar of Fronto. Three
different “passions” exist, in one of which Basilides appears alone, and so
far as the fact of his martyrdom is concerned, and his burial near the fourth
milestone on the Via Aurelia, we are probably on safe ground. If the mention
of Nabor and Nazarius has any reference to the cult of genuine martyrs, these
probably belong to Milan but the whole tangle is too intricate to admit of
any certain solution.
Three separate
sets of alleged "acts" of St Basilides and companions have
been printed by the Bollandists in the third volume for June of the Acta Sanctorum. The most satisfactory discussion of the
problem is probably that of Delehaye, in his CMH., pp. 315—316 but see also J. P. Kirsch, Der stadtrömische
Christliche Festkalender (1924), pp.
60—63.
Roman Martyrology contains this laus: "At
Rome on the Aurelian Way, the birthday of the holy martyrs Basilides, Cyrinus,
Nabor, and Nazarius, soldiers who were cast into prison in the persecution
of Diocletian and Maximian, under the prefect Aurelius for confession of the
Christian name, scourged with scorpions and beheaded." The quartet is mentioned
in the sacramentaries of Pope Saint Gelasius and Saint Gregory the Great
as interred on the Aurelian road. Their unreliable acta states that they
were four soldiers in the army of Maxentius.
It seems, however, more likely that this group is the result
of a confusion of names in the martyrologies. Basilides is probably the Roman
martyr of June 10, who died in the late 3rd century; Cyrinus (Quirinus), the
martyr of June 4; and Nabor and Nazarius, two Milanese martyrs of whom nothing
reliable is known. All four were venerated together on June 12 until 1969,
when their feast was suppressed because of this confusion.
In 756, Saint Chrodegang, bishop of Metz procured the relics
of several martyrs from Rome. He placed those of Nazarius in the abbey of
Lorch in the diocese of Worms and those of Nabor in that of Saint Hilary
(now corrupted to Saint Avol's) in the diocese of Metz (Benedictines, Farmer,
Husenbeth). |
St. Antonina,
martyred At Nicaea in Bithynia,
She was scourged by order of the governor Priscillian during the same persecution,
then racked, lacerated, exposed to the fire, and finally put to the sword.
Nicǽæ, in Bithynia, sanctæ Antonínæ Mártyris,
quæ, in eádem persecutióne, a Priscilliáno Præside
jussa est fústibus cædi, suspéndi in equúleo, latéribus
laniári et flammis incéndi, ac demum gládio necári.
At Nicaea in Bithynia, St. Antonina, martyr. She
was scourged by order of the governor Priscillian during the same persecution,
then racked, lacerated, exposed to the fire, and finally put to the sword.
304? St Antonina, Martyr
The St Antonina who is commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology
was a woman who is said to have suffered martyrdom under the governor Priscillian
during the persecution of Diocletian. She is thought to be identical with
the saint or saints of the same name also honoured in the Roman Martyrology
on March 1 and May 4. That she was cruelly tortured
seems certain, but the mode of her death is doubtful. According to one account,
she was suspended by an arm for three days, then imprisoned, and finally burnt
at the stake; according to another she was stretched on the iron horse, her
sides were torn with combs, and she was slain with the sword; whilst a third
tradition relates that after suffering many torments she was placed in a
sack or a cask and thrown into a marsh. Her head is supposed to have been
taken to Prague in 1673. Whereas the Greek Menaion claims
her as a martyr of Nicaea (Cea) in Bithynia, the Spaniards have adopted her
as a virgin saint of Ceja in Galicia, and the Aegean islanders as belonging
to the island of Cea. Actually she may have suffered at Nicomedia, for that
is the city mentioned in the ancient Syriac Breviarium, though
here we find a man, Antoninus, net Antonina. But the Greek synaxaries are
agreed in retaining the feminine form, and they also keep to Nicaea, and to
the name Priscillian as that of the governor. It is curious that in the case
of a martyr so obscure, for whom no formal passio
is forthcoming, the Hieronymianum supplies an abundance
of detail, rarely met with in other entries.
The question
is discussed very fully by Delehaye, in his CMH., p. 229. - See also the Analecta Bollandiana, vol.
xxx (1911), p. 165; and the Constantinople Synaxary (ed.
Delehaye), cc. 500 and 746.
|
325 Amphion of Cilicia "an
excellent confessor ..." bishop of Epiphania, Cilicia attended the Council
of Nicaea as a member of the Catholic party. He was elected to the see of
Nicomedia. Saint Athanasius commended Amphion's writings B (RM)
Amphion is described in the Roman Martyrology as "an excellent
confessor in the time of Galerius Maximian." He was then bishop of Epiphania,
Cilicia. Amphion attended the Council of Nicaea as a member of the Catholic
party. He was elected to the see of Nicomedia. Saint Athanasius commended
Amphion's writings (Benedictines). |
343
St. Olympius Bishop of Enos, in Rumelia, he was a dedicated foe of the heresy
of Arianism and endured persecution, including removal from his see, by
the Arian Emperor Constantius II. Olympius also defended another opponent
of Arianism, St. Athanasius
In Thrácia sancti Olympii
Epíscopi, qui, ab Ariánis sede pulsus, Conféssor occúbuit.
In Thrace,
St. Olumpius, a bishop, who was driven out of his diocese by the Arians, and
died a confessor.
Olympius of Enos B
(RM) Bishop Olympius of Enos (Aenos) in Rumelia was a contemporary of Saint
Athanasius. For his opposition to Arianism he was deposed by the Emperor
Constantius (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). |
4th v. St. Amphion
Bishop defender of the faith, praised by St. Athanasius bishop of Epiphania,
Cicilia and then the bishop of Nicomedia when Arians began to spread their
heresy. He also attended the Council of Nicaea in 325.
In Cilícia sancti Amphiónis
Epíscopi, qui, témpore Galérii Maximiáni, Conféssor
fuit egrégius.
In Cilicia,
Bishop St. Amphion, a celebrated confessor of the time of Galerius Maximian. |
4th v. Saint John the Hermit lived in Egypt is mentioned
in the Life of St Onuphrius.
After he had buried
St Onuphrius, St Paphnutius came upon an oasis which impressed him with its
beauty and abundance of fruit-bearing trees. Four youths inhabiting this place
came to him from out of the wilderness. The youths told Abba Paphnutius that
in their childhood they had lived in the city of Oxyrhynchus (Upper Thebaid)
and they had studied together. They had burned with the desire to devote
their lives to God. Making their plans to go off into the desert, the young
men left the city and after several days' journey, they reached this place.
A man radiant with heavenly glory met them and led them to a
desert Elder. "We have lived here six years already," said the youths. "Our
Elder dwelt here one year and then he died. Now we live here alone, we eat
the fruit of the trees, and we have water from a spring." The youths gave
him their names, they were Sts John, Andrew, Heraclemon and Theophilus (Dec.
2).
The youths struggled separately the whole week long, but on
Saturday and Sunday they gathered at the oasis and offered up common prayer.
On these days an angel would appear and commune them with the Holy Mysteries.
This time however, for Abba Paphnutius' sake, they did not go off into the
desert, but spent the whole week together at prayer.
On the following Saturday and Sunday St Paphnutius together
with the youths was granted to receive the Holy Mysteries from the hands
of the angel and to hear these words,
"Receive the
Imperishable Food, unending bliss and life eternal, the Body and Blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ, our God."
St Paphnutius made bold to ask
the angel for permission to remain in the desert to the end of his days. The
angel replied that God had decreed another path for him. He was to return
to Egypt and tell the Christians of the life of the desert-dwellers.
Having bid farewell to the youths, St Paphnutius reached the
edge of the wilderness after a three day journey. Here he found a small skete,
and the brethren received him with love. Abba Paphnutius related everything
that he had learned about the holy Fathers whom he had encountered in the
desert. The brethren wrote a detailed account of what St Paphnutius said,
and deposited it in the church, where all who wished to do so could read it.
St Paphnutius gave thanks to God, Who had granted him to learn about the
exalted lives of the hermits of the Thebaid, and he returned to his own monastery.
St John is also commemorated on December 2 |
6th v. St. Ternan
Missionary and bishop a disciple of St. Palladius missionary bishop among
the Picts in Scotland
5th Or 6th V. St Ternan, Bishop
It is tolerably
certain that St Ternan was actively employed in the conversion of the Picts
and was one of their earliest bishops, but the accounts of him that have
come down to us are so confused
and conflicting that it is hopeless to attempt to reconstruct his history.
Even his date and nationality are disputed. According to one tradition, he
had been for many years a monk in the monastery of Culross, whilst the Aberdeen
Breviary states that he was a native of the Scottish province of the Mearns,
and that he received baptism from St Palladius, whose disciple he was. A gloss
upon the Félire of Oengus declares indeed that he
was identical with Palladius. Perhaps he was consecrated a bishop in succession
to St Ninian by Palladius in 432, or he may have received his commission directly
from Rome, which he is said to have visited. He appears to have had his headquarters
at Abernethy—the capital of the Pictish kings—and to have died there. His
body, however, was buried and venerated at Liconium, or Banchory Ternan as
it came to be called. About the year 1530 the compiler of the Aberdeen Breviary
saw St Ternan’s skull at Banchory. A bell which is supposed miraculously
to have followed the saint from Rome was also preserved there until the Reformation.
Some of the saint’s relics were venerated in Aberdeen cathedral, which is
thought to have been originally dedicated to him; several churches and chapels
in that part of Scotland actually bore or bear his name. His cultus
spread to Ireland and his name appears on this day in the Félire of Oengus and in other old Irish calendars,
but there is no reliable evidence of his having even visited the island.
An account
of St Ternan is given in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii,
but it is not wonderful that Father Papebroch, with the limited sources at
his disposal, was unable to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion. Things
are not much better even now, but the reader should consult Forbes, KSS.,
pp. 450—451, and also W. Douglas Simpson’s booklets, The Origins
of Christianity in Aberdeenshire (1925), The Historical St
Columba (1927) and On Certain Saints and Professor Watson
(1928).
Sometimes called Torannan.
According to tradition, he was a disciple of St. Palladius. He worked for
many as a missionary bishop among the Picts in Scotland and he is honored as
the founder of the abbey of Culross, in Fifeshire, where he died. Bishop of
the Picts, flourished in the sixth century.
Much obscurity attaches to his history, and it is difficult
to reconcile his chronology as given by various writers. Some say that he
was consecrated by St. Palladius in 440, others that he was a monk
of Culross in Fife, one of the monasteries founded by St. Serf, or Servan,
the tutor of St. Kentigern. The Picts were not converted till about 570, by
the zeal of St. Columba. St. Kentigern died in 603, and St. Serf of Culross
died in 583 (feast 1 July). It is safe to assert that St. Ternan was a contemporary
of St. Serf. In the "Aberdeen Martyrology" there is mention of "the Gospel
of Matthew belonging to St. Ternan", which was enshrined in a metal case or
cumdach (book shrine), covered with silver and gold, after the Irish fashion."
He must not be confounded with St. Trumwine. |
Sancti Joánnis a sancto Facúndo,
ex Eremitárum sancti Augustíni Ordine, Confessóris, qui
migrávit in cælum prídie hujus diéi.
St. John of St. Facundus,
confessor of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, who died on the 11th
of June. |
Onúphrii
Anachorétæ In Ægypto
sancti , qui in vasta erémo sexagínta annis vitam
religióse perégit, et, magnis virtútibus ac méritis
clarus, migrávit in cælum. Ipsíus vero insígnia
gesta Paphnútius Abbas conscrípsit.
Onuphrius, an anchoret In Egypt, St. , who for sixty years led
a religious life in the desert, and renowned for great virtues and merits
departed for heaven. His admirable deeds have been recorded by Abbot
Paphnutius.
Onuphrios
Orthodoxe Kirche: 12. Juni
Onuphrios gehört zu einer Gruppe von Einsiedlern,
die im 4. Jahrhundert in der Thebais in Ägypten lebten und über
die der Mönch Paphnutios Viten geschrieben hat. Nach diesem Bericht lebte
Onuphrios, als Paphnutios auf ihn stieß bereits 60 Jahre alleine in
der Wüste. Ein Baum, der vor seiner Höhle gewachsen war, versorgte
ihn mit verschiedenen Früchten und spendete ihm Schatten. Samstags kam
ein Engel, brachte Onuphrios die Kommunion und unterhielt sich bis Sonntags
mit ihm. Onuphrios starb, nachdem er Paphnutios seine Lebensgeschichte erzählt
hatte und wurde von ihm begraben.
400 St Onuphrius
Amongst the many hermits in the Egyptian desert during
the fourth and fifth centuries was a holy man called Onuphrius. The little
that is known of him is derived from an account attributed to a certain Abbot
Paphnutius of a series of visits paid by him to some of the hermits of the
Thebaid. This account seems to have been committed to writing by one or more
of the monks to whom it was related, and several versions of it became current.
Obviously the story has lost nothing in the telling.
Paphnutius undertook the pilgrimage
in order to study the eremitic life and to discover whether he himself was
called to lead it. For sixteen days after leaving his monastery he wandered
in the desert, meeting with one or two strange and edifying adventures, but
on the seventeenth day he was startled at the sight of what appeared to be
an aged man with hair and beard falling to the ground, but covered with fur
like an animal and wearing a loincloth of foliage. So alarming was the apparition
that he began to run away. The figure, however, called after him, inviting
him to return and assuring him that he also was a man and a servant of God.
They entered into conversation and Paphnutius learned that the stranger’s
name was Onuphrius, that he had once been a monk in a monastery of many brethren,
but that he had felt a vocation for the solitary life which he had now led
for seventy years. In reply to further questions he admitted that he had suffered
severely from hunger and thirst, from extremes of temperature, and from violent
temptations. Nevertheless God had given him consolation and had nourished
him with the dates that grew on a palm-tree beside his cell. He then conducted
Paphnutius to his cave, where they spent the rest of the day discoursing
of heavenly things. At sunset some bread and water suddenly appeared before
them and they were wonderfully refreshed after partaking of this food.
All that night they prayed together.
In the morning Paphnutius was
distressed to see that a great change had come over his host, who was evidently
at the point of death. But Onuphrius said, “Fear not, brother Paphnutius,
for the Lord of His infinite mercy has sent you here to bury me.” To a suggestion
made by Paphnutius that he should remain on in the cell after his host’s death,
the aged hermit replied that God willed it otherwise. He then asked to be
commended to the prayers and oblations of the faithful for whom he promised
to intercede, and after having blessed Paphnutius he prostrated himself to
the ground and gave up the ghost. His visitor made a shroud for him with half
his tunic which he rent asunder. He then buried the old man in a cleft of
the rock which he covered with stones. No sooner was this done than the cave
crumbled and the date palm faded away, thus clearly indicating to Paphnutius
that he was not intended to linger in that place.
It would not
be difficult to compile a long bibliography of St Onuphrius. The Greek and
Latin texts are indicated in BHG., nn. 1378—1382, and BHL., nn. 6334—6338,
but a sufficient selection may be found in the Acta Sanctorum,
June, vol. iii. There are also other oriental versions, notably
in Coptic and Ethiopic. See, in particular, W. Till, Koptische
Heiligen- und Martyrer-Legenden (1935) pp. 14—19; E. A. Wallis Budge,
Miscellaneous Coptic Texts (1955) ; W. E. Crum, “Discours de Pisenthios” in Revue
de l’Orient chrétien, vol. x (1956), pp. 38—67. Although Pisenthios
tells us nothing new about Onuphrius, his sermon shows that already, about
A.D. 600, the feast was celebrated
with solemnity. St Onuphrius has also been discussed at length in the essay
of C. A. Williams, Oriental Affinities of the Legend of the Hairy
Anchorite (Illinois Studies, vols. x and xi, 1926), but see the criticism
in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlvii (1929),
pp. 138—141. It does not seem that the popularity of the names Onfroi, Humfrey,
and their derivatives in medieval. France and England was due to a cult of
St Onuphrius introduced by crusaders: cf. E. G. Withycombe,
Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (1950).
St Paphnutius, who led an ascetical life in the
Thebaid desert in Egypt, has left us an account of St Onuphrius the Great
and the Lives of other fourth century hermits: Timothy the Desert Dweller,
the abbas Andrew, Charalampus, Theophilus, and others.
It occurred
to St Paphnutius to go to the inner desert in order to see if there were a
monk who labored for the Lord more than he did. He took a little bread and
water and went into the most remote part of the desert. After four days he
reached a cave and found in it the body of an Elder who had been dead for
several years. Having buried the hermit, St Paphnutius went on farther. After
several more days he found another cave, and from the marks in the sand he
realized that the cave was inhabited. At sundown he saw a herd of buffalo
and walking among them a man.
This man was naked, but was covered with long hair as if with
clothing. This was Abba Timothy the Desert-Dweller.
Seeing a fellow man, Abba Timothy thought
that he was seeing an apparition, and he began to pray. St Paphnutius finally
convinced the hermit that he was actually a living man and a fellow Christian.
Abba Timothy prepared food and water for him. He related that he had been
living in the desert for thirty years, and that St Paphnutius was the first
man he had seen. In his youth, Timothy had lived in a cenobitic monastery,
but he wanted to live alone. Abba Timothy left his monastery and went to live
near a city, sustaining himself by the work of his own hands (he was a weaver).
Once a woman came to him with an order and he fell into sin with her. Having
come to his senses, the fallen monk went far into the desert, where he patiently
endured tribulation and sickness.
When he was at the point of dying
from hunger, he received healing in a miraculous manner.
From that time Abba Timothy had
lived peacefully in complete solitude, eating dates from the trees, and quenching
his thirst with water from a spring. St Paphnutius besought the Elder that
he might remain with him in the wilderness. But he was told that he would
be unable to bear the demonic temptations which beset desert-dwellers. Instead,
he supplied him with dates and water, and blessed him to go on his way.
Having rested at a desert monastery, St Paphnutius undertook
a second journey into the innermost desert, hoping to find another holy ascetic
who would profit his soul. He went on for seventeen days, until his supply
of bread and water was exhausted. St Paphnutius collapsed twice from weakness,
and an angel strengthened him.
On the seventeenth day St Paphnutius reached a hilly place and
sat down to rest. Here he caught sight of a man approaching him, who was covered
from head to foot with white hair and girded his loins with leaves of desert
plants. The sight of the Elder frightened Abba Paphnutius, and he jumped
up and fled up the hill. The Elder sat down at the foot of the hill. Lifting
his head, he saw St Paphnutius, and called him to come down.
This was the great desert-dweller, Abba Onuphrius. At the request
of St Paphnutius, he told him about himself.
St Onuphrius had lived in complete isolation
in the wilds of the wilderness for sixty years. In his youth he had been raised
at the Eratus monastery near the city of Hermopolis. Having learned from
the holy Fathers about the hardships and lofty life of the desert-dwellers,
to whom the Lord sent help through His angels, St Onuphrius longed to imitate
their exploits. He secretly left the monastery one night and saw a brilliant
ray of light before him.
St Onuphrius became frightened and decided to go back, but the
voice of his Guardian Angel told him to go into the desert to serve the Lord.
After walking six or seven miles,
he saw a cave. At that moment the ray of light vanished. In the cave was an
old man. St Onuphrius stayed with him to learn of his manner of life and his
struggle with demonic temptations. When the Elder was convinced that St Onuphrius
had been enlightened somewhat, he then led him to another cave and left him
there alone to struggle for the Lord. The Elder visited him once a year,
until he fell asleep in the Lord.
At the request of St Paphnutius, Abba Onuphrius told him of
his labors and ascetic feats, and of how the Lord had cared for him.
Near the cave where he lived was a date-palm tree and a spring
of pure water issued forth. Twelve different branches of the palm tree bore
fruit each month in succession, and so the monk endured neither hunger nor
thirst. The shade of the palm tree sheltered him from the noonday heat.
An angel brought Holy Communion
to the saint each Saturday and Sunday, and to the other desert-dwellers
as well.
The monks conversed until evening,
when Abba Paphnutius noticed a loaf of white bread lying between them, and
also a vessel of water. After eating, he Elders spent the night in prayer.
After the singing of the morning hymns, St Paphnutius saw that the face of
the venerable Onuphrius had become transformed, and that frightened him. St
Onuphrius said, "God,
Who is Merciful to all, has sent you to me so that you might bury my body.
Today I shall finish my earthly course and depart to my Christ, to live
forever in eternal rest."
St Onuphrius then asked Abba
Paphnutius to remember him to all the brethren, and to all Christians.
St Paphnutius wanted to remain
there after the death of Abba Onuphrius.
However, the holy ascetic told him that it was not God's will
for him to stay there, he was to return to his own monastery instead and tell
everyone about the virtuous lives of the desert-dwellers. Having then blessed
Abba Paphnutius and bid him farewell, St Onuphrius prayed with tears and
sighs, and then he lay down upon the earth, uttering his final words,
"Into Thy hands, my God, I
commend my spirit," and died.
St
Paphnutius wept and tore off a portion of his garment, and with it covered
the body of the great ascetic.
He placed it in the crevice of a large rock, which was hollow
like a grave, and covered it over with a multitude of small stones. Then he
began to pray that the Lord would permit him to remain in that place until
the end of his life. Suddenly, the cave fell in, the palm tree withered, and
the spring of water dried up. Realising that he had not been given a blessing
to remain, St Paphnutius set out on his return journey.
After four days Abba Paphnutius reached a cave, where he met
an ascetic, who had lived in the desert for more than 60 years.
Except for the two other Elders, with whom he labored, this
monk had seen no one in all that time. Each week these three had gone on
their solitary paths into the wilderness, and on Saturday and Sunday they
gathered for psalmody, and ate the bread which an angel brought them. Since
it was Saturday, they had gathered together. After eating the bread provided
by the angel, they spent the whole night at prayer. As he was leaving, St
Paphnutius asked the names of the Elders, but they said,
"God,
Who knows everything, also knows our names. Remember us, that we may see
one another in God's heavenly habitations."
Continuing on his way, St Paphnutius
came upon an oasis which impressed him with its beauty and abundance of fruit-bearing
trees.
Four youths inhabiting this place came to him from out of the
wilderness. The youths told Abba Paphnutius that in their childhood they
had lived in the city of Oxyrhynchus (Upper Thebaid) and they had studied
together. They had burned with the desire to devote their lives to God. Making
their plans to go off into the desert, the young men left the city and after
several days' journey, they reached this place. A man radiant with heavenly
glory met them and led them to a desert Elder. "We have lived here six years
already," said the youths. "Our Elder dwelt here one year and then he died.
Now we live here alone, we eat the fruit of the trees, and we have water
from a spring." The youths gave him their names, they were Sts John, Andrew,
Heraklemon and Theophilus (Dec. 2). The youths struggled separately
the whole week long, but on Saturday and Sunday they gathered at the oasis
and offered up common prayer. On these days an angel would appear and commune
them with the Holy Mysteries. This time however, for Abba Paphnutius' sake,
they did not go off into the desert, but spent the whole week together at
prayer. On the following Saturday and Sunday St Paphnutius together with the
youths was granted to receive the Holy Mysteries from the hands of the angel
and to hear these words, "Receive the Imperishable Food, unending bliss and
life eternal, the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our God."
St Paphnutius made bold to ask the angel for permission to remain in the
desert to the end of his days. The angel replied that God had decreed another
path for him. He was to return to Egypt and tell the Christians of the life
of the desert-dwellers.
Having bid farewell to the youths, St Paphnutius reached the
edge of the wilderness after a three day journey. Here he found a small skete,
and the brethren received him with love. Abba Paphnutius related everything
that he had learned about the holy Fathers whom he had encountered in the
desert. The brethren wrote a detailed account of what St Paphnutius said,
and deposited it in the church, where all who wished to do so could read it.
St Paphnutius gave thanks to God, Who had granted him to learn about the
exalted lives of the hermits of the Thebaid, and he returned to his own monastery.
|
599 St. Cominus
Baithen Mor; Baithen the Great; Comin; Cominus Patron saint of Ardcavan,
Ireland, abbot Part of Saint Columba's mission to Britain in 563
Born to a noble Irish family. Monk. Abbot of Tiree Island, Scotland.
Part of Saint Columba's mission to Britain in 563, and may have been Columba's
cousin. When Columba died, leadership of the group passed to Baithen. Biographer
of Columba.
When Saint Baithen ate, before each bite he recited the prayer
"Deus in adjutorium meum intende". When he worked the fields with the monks,
he held up one hand to Heaven, beseeching God, while with the other hand
he gathered the corn. A wise counsellor, his advice was sought by many Irish
saints. |
734 St. Peter of Mount Athos first hermit
to reside upon Mount Athos in northern Greece; St Simeon touched his
staff to the chains binding
St Peter, and the chains melted away like wax. Graced with a vision from Our
Lady, he journeyed to Mount Athos and took up the life of a hermit, remaining
there for half a century
St Peter of Mt. Athos
8th V. St Peter Of Mount Athos
Many years before any monastery had been built on Mount Athos in Macedonia
a holy man named Peter lived as a solitary on its slopes. He is said to have
been the first Christian hermit to settle in that district, but nothing is
actually known of his history. His relics were taken after his death to the
monastery of St Clement and from thence, in the tenth century, to Thrace,
where his cultus was fostered. His legend as given
by Gregory Palamas, archbishop of Thessalonica, resembles many other stories
related in the Greek Menaia: it may be regarded as being
of the nature of edifying fiction. In his youth, we read, Peter took up arms
against the Saracens and was captured and imprisoned. But St Nicholas and
St Simeon, to whom he appealed in his distress, came to his assistance: Simeon
set him free, whilst Nicholas directed him on his way. Having thus regained
his liberty he went to Rome, where St Nicholas introduced him to the pope,
who gave him the monastic habit. He then embarked in a ship bound for Asia.
Soon after they had started our Lady appeared to him in a vision and bade
him spend the remainder of his life as a hermit on Mount Athos.
Accordingly,
when they had left Crete the captain landed him near his objective and he
entered upon a penitential life. Besides enduring many hardships he had
to meet diabolical attacks. First he was assailed by legions of devils who
mocked him, shot at him with arrows and pelted him with stones. He repelled
them by the power of prayer. Afterwards they assumed the form of snakes which
struck terror into his soul. But he prayed yet more fervently and they disappeared.
Then Satan took the form of one of his former servants and begged him to
return to the world, representing to him how greatly he was missed and how
much good he might do to his neighbours. Greatly perturbed, Peter called
upon our Lady, who responded by obliging the tempter to show himself in his
true form and then to vanish. Finally the Evil One returned as an angel
of light. Peter, however, overcame him by his humility. He said that he
was unworthy to mix with his fellow men: much less could he expect to be
visited by a celestial being. Consequently he refused to listen to
the suggestion made to him by his supernatural guest. For fifty years he
had lived on Mount Athos without seeing a human creature when at last he
was discovered by a huntsman. To him the hermit told his story. Though the
man wished to stay with him, Peter sent him back to his home, requesting
him to return in a year’s time. When the hunter, accompanied by a friend,
kept the appointment twelve months later they found Peter’s dead body.
This is another
example of a familiar type of pious fiction to which the legend of St Onuphrius
(see above) also belongs. There are two Greek texts preserved to us (see BHG.,
nn. 1505—1506). But it would probably be going too far to treat Peter as
an imaginary person who has never existed. C. A. Williams’s essay (in
University of Illinois Studies, vol. xi, pp. 427—509) on
“Oriental Affinities of the Legend of the Hairy Anchorite”, shows that he
is very imperfectly grounded in Christian hagiography. A more reliable discussion
of the story of Peter the Athonite is to be found in Kirsopp Lake,
Early Days of Monasticism on Mount Athos (1909).
Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche:
12. Juni
Peter vom AthosDie legendenhaft
ausgeschmückte Lebensgeschichte berichtet, daß Peter (Petrus)
aus Griechenland stammte, Soldat in Konstantinopel war und 667 in einem Krieg
gegen die Muslime gefangengenommen wurde. Er führte seine lange Gefangenschaft
darauf zurück, daß er nicht in ein Kloster gegangen war, wie er
es vorgehabt hatte und begann zu fasten und zu beten. Er wurde schließlich
wundersam gerettet, reiste nach Rom und wurde hier vom Papst als Mönch
eingekleidet. Er fuhr dann mit einem Schiff in das östliche Mittelmeer
und ging im Jahr 681 an der Stelle, an der das Schiff stehenblieb, an Land.
Hier, auf dem Berg Athos, lebte er 53 Jahre als Einsiedler. Erst kurz vor
seinem Tod wurde er von einem Jäger entdeckt. Peter war der erste Einsiedler
auf dem Berg Athos und damit Begründer der mönchischen Tradition
auf diesem Berg.
Saint Peter of Athos, a Greek
by birth, served as a soldier in the imperial armies and he lived at Constantinople.
In the year 667, during a war with the Syrians, St Peter was taken captive
and locked up in a fortress in the city of Samara on the Euphrates River.
For a long time he languished in prison and he pondered over which of his
sins had brought God's chastisement upon him. St Peter remembered that once
he had intended to leave the world and go to a monastery, but he had not
done so. He began to observe a strict fast in the prison and to pray fervently,
and he besought St Nicholas the Wonderworker to intercede before God for him.
St Nicholas appeared
in a dream to Peter and advised him to call upon St Simeon the God-Receiver (Feb. 3) for help.
St Nicholas appeared to him once more in a dream, encouraging the prisoner
in patience and hope. The third time he appeared was not in a dream, but with
St Simeon the God-Receiver. St Simeon touched his staff to the chains binding
St Peter, and the chains melted away like wax. The doors of the prison opened,
and St Peter was free.
St Simeon the God-Receiver became invisible, but St Nicholas
conveyed St Peter to the borders of the Greek territory.
Reminding him of his vow, St Nicholas became invisible. St Peter
then journeyed to Rome to receive monastic tonsure at the tomb of the Apostle
Peter. Even here St Nicholas did not leave him without his help. He appeared
in a dream to the Pope of Rome and informed him of the circumstances of St
Peter's liberation from captivity, and he commanded the Pope to tonsure the
former prisoner into monasticism.
On the following day, in the midst of a throng of the people
who had gathered for divine services, the Pope loudly exclaimed, "Peter,
you who are from the Greek lands, and whom St Nicholas has freed from prison
in Samara, come here to me." St Peter stood in front of the Pope, who tonsured
him into monasticism at the tomb of the Apostle Peter.
The Pope taught St Peter the
rules of monastic life and kept the monk by him.
Then with a blessing, he sent St Peter to where God had appointed him to
journey.
St Peter boarded a ship sailing
to the East. The shipowners, after going ashore, besought St Peter to come
and pray at a certain house, where the owner and all the household lay sick.
St Peter healed them through his
prayer.
The Most Holy Theotokos appeared
in a dream to St Peter and indicated the place where he should live til the
very end of his days: Mount Athos.
When the ship arrived at Athos, it then halted of its own accord.
St Peter realized that this was the place he was meant to go, and so he went
ashore. This was in the year 681. Peter then dwelt in the desolate places
of the Holy Mountain, not seeing another person for fifty-three years. His
clothing had become tattered, but his hair and beard had grown out and covered
his body in place of clothes.
At first St Peter was repeatedly
subjected to demonic assaults.
Trying to force the saint to abandon his cave, the demons sometimes
took on the form of armed soldiers, and at other times of fierce beasts
and vipers that seemed ready to tear the hermit apart. St Peter overcame
the demonic attacks through fervent prayer to God and His Holy Mother. Then
the enemy resorted to trickery. Appearing under the guise of a lad sent to
him from his native home, he besought the monk with tears to leave the wilderness
and return to his own home. The saint wept, but without hesitation he answered,
"Here have the Lord and the Most
Holy Theotokos led me. I will not leave here without Her permission."
Hearing the Name of the Mother of God, the demon vanished.
After seven years the devil came
to St Peter in the guise of a radiant angel and said that God was commanding
him to go into the world for the enlightenment and salvation of people in
need of his guidance. The experienced ascetic again replied that without the
permission of the Mother of God he would not forsake the wilderness. The
devil disappeared and did not bother to come near the saint anymore. The
Mother of God appeared to St Peter in a dream with St Nicholas and told the
brave hermit that after he had fasted for forty days, an angel would bring
him heavenly manna.
St Peter fasted, and on the fortieth day he fortified himself
with the heavenly manna, receiving the strength for another forty-day fast.
Once, a hunter chasing after
a stag saw the naked man, covered with hair and girded about the loins with
leaves. He was afraid and was about to flee, but St Peter stopped him and
told him of his life. The hunter asked to remain with him, but the saint sent
him home. St Peter gave the hunter a year for self-examination and forbade
him to tell anyone about meeting him. A year later the hunter returned
with his brother, who was afflicted with a demon, and several other companions.
When they entered the St Peter's cave, they saw that he had already reposed.
The hunter, with bitter tears, told his companions of the life of St Peter.
His brother, after merely touching the saint's body, received healing. St
Peter died in the year 734. His holy relics were on Athos at the monastery
of St Clement. During the Iconoclast period the relics were hidden away, and
in the year 969 they were transferred to the Thracian village of Photokami.
St Peter once saw the Mother of God in a vision, and she spoke
of Her earthly domain, Mount Athos: "I have chosen this mountain... and have
received it from My Son and God as an inheritance, for those who wish to
forsake worldly cares and strife.... Exceedingly do I love this place. I will
aid those who come to dwell here and who labor for God... and keep His commandments....
I will lighten their afflictions and labors, and shall be an invincible ally
for the monks, invisibly guiding and guarding them...."
Generations of Orthodox monks can attest to the truth of these
words. The Mother of God is regarded as the Abbess of the Holy Mountain, not
just in name, but in actual fact.
For this reason, Mt. Athos is known as the "Garden of the Theotokos."
Peter, originally a soldier was captured by the Muslims and
imprisoned until released through the intervention of St. Simeon. He then
went to Rome and was granted the monastic habit by the pope himself. Graced
with a vision from Our Lady, he journeyed to Mount Athos and took up the
life of a hermit, remaining there for half a century. He overcame severe
trials and temptations, including assaults by the devil. He is considered
the first hermit to reside upon Mount Athos, sparking the tradition which
culminated in the foundation of the great monasteries upon that Holy Mountain.
|
816 Leo III, Pope
On Christmas Day Leo crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in Saint Peter's
Basilica. This was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to realize
Saint Augustine's ideal of the City of God, which profoundly affected European
history for many centuries
Romæ, in Basílica Vaticána, sancti Leónis Papæ
Tértii, cui erútos ab ímpiis óculos et præcísam
linguam Deus mirabíliter restítuit.
At Rome, in the Vatican basilica, Pope St. Leo III,
to whom God miraculously restored his eyes and his tongue after they had
been torn out by impious men.
(RM) Born in Rome, Italy;
died June 12, 816; canonized 1673.
816 ST LEO III, POPE
ON the very day
after the death of Pope Adrian I the electors proceeded to appoint his successor.
Their unanimous choice was the cardinal-priest of St Susanna, and on the morrow,
December 27, 795, he was consecrated
and enthroned as Leo III. But there was in Rome a faction bitterly hostile
to the new pope, mostly turbulent young nobles led by Pope Adrian’s disappointed
nephew and another ambitious official. In 799 they hatched a plot to render
Leo incapable of carrying out his pontifical duties. As he was riding in the
St Mark’s day procession a band of these conspirators attacked him outside
the church of St Silvester, dragged him from his horse, tried to blind him
and to cut out his tongue, and left him nearly senseless. That he should have
recovered so quickly and completely from his hurts as he did was regarded
as nothing short of a miracle.
For a time Leo took refuge with the king of the Franks, Charlemagne,
who was then at Paderborn; and on his return to Rome, where he was received
with great rejoicing, a commission examined the circumstances of the attempt
on his person. The promoters of it retorted by making such serious charges
against the pope that the commissioners felt bound to refer them to Charlemagne.
And a few months later the king came to Rome. On December 1 a synod was assembled
in the Vatican basilica at which he was present and Leo’s accusers were invited
to appear. They did not do so; but in spite of this nolle prosequi
it was considered desirable that Leo should take an oath of innocence
of the charges made. This he did on December 23 before the same assembly.
On Christmas
day, during Mass in St Peter’s, Pope Leo solemnly crowned Charlemagne as he
knelt before the confessio of the Apostle; the congregation
applauded, the choir acclaimed Charles—“Long life and triumph to Charles,
the most religious augustus, crowned by God, the great and
peace-loving emperor of the Romans”—and the pope knelt and did his temporal
homage. Thus was inaugurated the Holy Roman empire of the West, which was
hailed by some of the noblest minds of that
and later ages as the realization of the ideal set forth by St Augustine in
his De civitate Dei. This spectacular happening, fraught with such
far-reaching results, has been surrounded by a good deal of mystification,
some of it unnceessary. But it is a matter of general history, civil and ecclesiastical,
and need not be considered here.
To St Leo his
alliance with the monarch was of great benefit. Not only did it enable him
to regain some of the patrimony of the Roman church and to keep at bay the
turbulent elements in the papal states, but it also enabled him to intervene
successfully in foreign disputes and to enforce ecclesiastical discipline
in more distant lands. But when the emperor attempted to trespass into the
field of dogma and pressed him to introduce the clause “And the Son” (Filioque)
into the Nicene Creed, Leo refused. He would not hastily and at
the bidding of the secular power admit innovations—however doctrinally true—into
the liturgy, and he did not wish to alienate his Byzantine children, whose
importance he never underrated.
As long as Charlemagne lived St Leo was able to maintain order,
but after the emperor’s death in 814 troubles immediately broke out. The
Saracens descended on the coasts of Italy, and in Rome there was another
plot to murder the pope. By the time order had been restored it was evident
that Leo’s health had given way; and on June 12, 816, he died after a pontificate
of twenty years. His name was added to the Roman Martyrology in 1673.
The pontificate
of St Leo III belongs very largely to general history. There seems to be nothing
in the nature of an early biography beyond what may be read in the
Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, vol. ii, pp. 1—34). A
certain number of the letters of this pope are extant, in particular his more
important communications addressed to Charlemagne. There is an account, based
upon these materials and upon extracts from the later chroniclers, in the
Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii. But, for the English reader,
the most satisfactory source of information is Mgr Mann’s Lives of the
Popes, vol. ii (1906), pp. 1—110, in which will also be found an adequate
bibliography. Mgr Duchesne’s work, Les premiers temps de l’état
pontifical (1904), deserves special notice ; and among more recent works
see, in particular, K. Heldmann, Das Kaisertum Karls d. Gr. (1928),
and in the Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia,
vol. (1923), pp. 107—119, an article of C. Huelsen on the Life
of Leo III in the Liber Pontificalis.
Son of Atypius and Elizabeth, Leo was chief of the pontifical
treasury or wardrobe (vestiarius) and a cardinal-priest of Santa Susanna when
he was elected pope on the day his predecessor, Hadrian I, was buried, December
26, 795. Hadrian's two nephews both hoped to be made pope themselves. In
799, they incited a gang of young nobles to attack Leo. On Saint Mark's day
Leo was riding in a procession when these roughs dragged him from his horse,
tried to cut out his tongue and attempted to blind him. Leo escaped to the
monastery of Saint Erasmus with the help of the duke of Spoleto. There he
recovered quickly, miraculously according to some.
Leo enlisted the help of the
most powerful layman of the age, Charlemagne, who was at Paderborn. Charlemagne
provided troops a few months later to guard the pope as he journeyed from
Paderborn back to Rome, where he entered the city amid rejoicing. His
enemies, however, did not rest. They accused Leo of perjury and adultery.
In 800, Charlemagne came to Rome and appointed learned commissioners to examine
whether any fault in Leo could account for the attacks made on him. The convened
synod found none. Leo took an oath that he was innocent of any of the charges
before the assembled bishops.
On Christmas Day Leo crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor
in Saint Peter's Basilica. This was the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire,
an attempt to realize Saint Augustine's ideal of the City of God, which profoundly
affected European history for many centuries. On this alliance was founded
the unity of medieval Christendom; but opinions vary about the precise significance
of the coronation and whether pope or emperor gained most from it in authority
and protection. Nevertheless, Leo and the emperor now worked side by side
to resolve quarrels throughout the Holy Roman Empire, and to combat the spread
of Islam.
In 804, Leo visited the emperor and came to an agreement with
him about the division of the empire among Charlemagne's sons. Leo formally
agreed to it two years later. With Charlemagne's help Adoptionism was fought
in Spain, but when Charlemagne wanted the expression Filioque ("and the Son")
added to the Nicene Creed, Leo refused, in part because he would not permit
secular interference in ecclesiastical affairs, and in part because he did
not wish to offend the Byzantine Church. Generally, the two acted in
concert. They settled the dispute between Canterbury and York (see under Saint
Wilfrid). In the quarrel between Archbishop Wilfrid and King Cenulf of Mercia,
Leo intervened, suspended the archbishop, and put the kingdom under interdict.
After the death of Offa, who had requested that Pope Hadrian create a metropolitan
at Lichfield, Leo restored Canterbury to its former status in 803.
At the suggestion of Charlemagne, Leo also created a fleet to
combat the Saracens, recovered some of the Church's patrimony in Gaeta with
the emperor's help, and was the beneficiary of much treasure from him. Charlemagne's
bounty permitted Leo to restore many churches both in Rome and Ravenna, help
the poor, and patronize the arts.
When Charlemagne died in 814 and Leo's protection was gone,
his enemies again rose against him. He crushed one conspiracy by executing
the ringleader, and another revolt by the nobles of Campagna, who planned
to march on Rome, was suppressed by the duke of Spoleto. The saint died two
years after his great ally, Charlemagne (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley,
Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
Pope Saint Leo is generally depicted in art as he crowns Charlemagne
[Grandes Chroniques de France, 14th century) (Roeder). A restored, near-contemporary
mosaic survives in the Lateran depicting Saint Peter giving the pallium to
Leo and a standard to Charlemagne (Farmer). Another image from the Grandes
Chroniques de France illustrates the Torture of Leo III.
Pope St. Leo III
Date of birth unknown; died 816. He was elected on the very
day his predecessor was buried (26 Dec., 795), and consecrated on the following
day. It is quite possible that this haste may have been due to a desire
on the part of the Romans to anticipate any interference of the Franks with
their freedom of election. Leo was a Roman, the son of Atyuppius and Elizabeth.
At the time of his election he was Cardinal-Priest of St. Susanna, and seemingly
also vestiarius, or chief of the pontifical treasury, or wardrobe. With the
letter informing Charlemagne that he had been unanimously elected pope, Leo
sent him the keys of the confession of St. Peter, and the standard of the
city. This he did to show that he regarded the Frankish king as the protector
of the Holy See. In return he received from Charlemagne letters of congratulation
and a great part of the treasure which the king had captured from the Avars.
The acquisition of this wealth was one of the causes which enabled Leo to
be such a great benefactor to the churches and charitable institutions of
Rome.
Prompted by jealousy or ambition, or by feelings of hatred and
revenge, a number of the relatives of Pope Adrian I formed a plot to render
Leo unfit to hold his sacred office. On the occasion of the procession of
the Greater Litanies (25 April, 799), when the pope was making his way towards
the Flaminian Gate, he was suddenly attacked by a body of armed men. He was
dashed to the ground, and an effort was made to root out his tongue and tear
out his eyes. After he had been left for a time bleeding in the street, he
was hurried off at night to the monastery of St. Erasmus on the Cœlian. There,
in what seemed quite a miraculous manner, he recovered the full use of his
eyes and tongue. Escaping from the monastery, he betook himself to Charlemagne,
accompanied by many of the Romans. He was received by the Frankish king with
the greatest honour at Paderborn, although his enemies had filled the king's
ears with malicious accusations against him. After a few months' stay in
Germany, the Frankish monarch caused him to be escorted back to Rome, where
he was received with every demonstration of joy by the whole populace, natives
and foreigners. The pope's enemies were then tried by Charlemagne's envoys
and, being unable to establish either Leo's guilt or their own innocence,
were sent as prisoners to France (Frankland). In the following year (800)
Charlemagne himself came to Rome, and the pope and his accusers were brought
face to face. The assembled bishops declared that they had no right to judge
the pope; but Leo of his own free will, in order, as he said, to dissipate
any suspicions in men's minds, declared on oath that he was wholly guiltless
of the charges which had been brought against him. At his special request
the death sentence which had been passed upon his principal enemies was commuted
into a sentence of exile.
A few days later, Leo and Charlemagne
again met. It was on Christmas Day in St. Peter's. After the Gospel had been
sung, the pope approached Charlemagne, who was kneeling before the Confession
of St. Peter, and placed a crown upon his head. The assembled multitude at
once made the basilica ring with the shout: "To Charles, the most pious Augustus,
crowned by God, to our great and pacific emperor life and victory!" By this
act was revived the Empire in the West, and, in theory, at least, the world
was declared by the Church subject to one temporal head, as Christ had made
it subject to one spiritual head. It was understood that the first duty of
the new emperor was to be the protector of the Roman Church and of Christendom
against the heathen. With a view to combining the East and West under the
effective rule of Charlemagne, Leo strove to further the project of a marriage
between him and the Eastern empress Irene. Her deposition, however (801),
prevented the realization of this excellent plan. Some three years after the
departure of Charlemagne from Rome (801), Leo again crossed the Alps to see
him (804). According to some he went to discuss with the emperor the division
of his territories between his sons. At any rate, two years later, he was
invited to give his assent to the emperor's provisions for the said partition.
Equally while acting in harmony with the pope, Charlemagne combatted the
heresy of Adoptionism which had arisen in Spain; but he went somewhat further
than his spiritual guide when he wished to bring about the general insertion
of the Filioque in the Nicene Creed. The two were, however, acting together
when Salzburg was made the metropolitical city for Bavaria, and when Fortunatus
of Grado was compensated for the loss of his see of Grado by the gift of
that of Pola. The joint action of the pope and the emperor was felt even
in England. Through it Eardulf of Northumbria recovered his kingdom, and
the dispute between Eanbald, Archbishop of York, and Wulfred, Archbishop
of Canterbury, was regulated.
Leo had, however, many relations with England solely on his
own account. By his command the synod of Beccanceld (or Clovesho, 803),
condemned the appointing of laymen as superiors of monasteries. In accordance
with the wishes of Ethelheard, Archbishop of Canterbury, Leo excommunicated
Eadbert Praen for seizing the throne of Kent, and withdrew the pallium which
had been granted to Litchfield, authorizing the restoration of the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of the See of Canterbury "just as St. Gregory the Apostle and
Master of the nation of the English had arranged it". Leo was also called
upon to intervene in the quarrels between Archbishop Wulfred and Cenulf, King
of Mercia. Very little is known of the real causes of the misunderstandings
between them, but, whoever was the more to blame, the archbishop seems to
have had the more to suffer. The king appears to have induced the pope to
suspend him from the exercise of his episcopal functions, and to keep the
kingdom under a kind of interdict for a period of six years. Till the hour
of his death (822), greed of gold caused Cenulf to continue his persecution
of the archbishop. It also caused him to persecute the monastery of Abingdon,
and it was not until he had received from its abbot a large sum of money that,
acting, as he declared, at the request of "the lord Apostolic and most glorious
Pope Leo", he decreed the inviolability of the monastery.
During the pontificate of Leo,
the Church of Constantinople was in a state of unrest. The monks, who at this
period were flourishing under the guidance of such men as St. Theodore the
Studite, were suspicious of what they conceived to be the lax principles of
their patriarch Tarasius, and were in vigorous opposition to the evil conduct
of their emperor Constantine VI. To be free to marry Theodota, their sovereign
had divorced his wife Maria. Though Tarasius condemned the conduct of Constantine,
still, to avoid greater evils, he refused, to the profound disgust of the
monks, to excommunicate him. For their condemnation of his new marriage Constantine
punished the monks with imprisonment and exile. In their distress the monks
turned for help to Leo, as they did when they were maltreated for opposing
the arbitrary reinstatement of the priest whom Tarasius had degraded for
marrying Constantine to Theodota. The pope replied, not merely with words
of praise and encouragement, but also by the dispatch of rich presents; and,
after Michael I came to the Byzantine throne, he ratified the treaty between
him and Charlemagne which was to secure peace for East and West.
Not only in the last mentioned
transaction, but in all matters of importance, did the pope and the Frankish
emperor act in concert. It was on Charlemagne's advice that, to ward off the
savage raids of the Saracens, Leo maintained a fleet, and caused his coast
line to be regularly patrolled by his ships of war. But because he did not
feel competent to keep the Moslem pirates out of Corsica, he entrusted the
guarding of it to the emperor. Supported by Charlemagne, he was able to recover
some of the patrimonies of the Roman Church in the neighbourhood of Gaeta,
and again to administer them through his rectors. But when the great emperor
died (28 Jan., 814), evil times once more broke on Leo. Af fresh conspiracy
was formed against him, but on this occasion the pope was apprised of it
before it came to a head. He caused the chief conspirators to be seized and
executed. No sooner had this plot been crushed than a number of nobles of
the Campagna rose in arms and plundered the country. They were preparing
to march on Rome itself, when they were overpowered by the Duke of Spoleto,
acting under the orders of the King of Italy (Langobardia). The large sums
of money which Charlemagne gave to the papal treasury enabled Leo to become
an efficient helper of the poor and a patron of art, and to renovate the
churches, not only of Rome, but even of Ravenna. He employed the imperishable
art of mosaic not merely to portray the political relationship between Charlemagne
and himself, but chiefly to decorate the churches, especially his titular
church of St. Susanna. Up to the end of the sixteenth century a figure of
Leo in mosaic was to be seen in that ancient church.
Leo III was buried in St. Peter's (12 June, 816), where his
relics are to be found along with those of Sts. Leo I, Leo II, and Leo IV.
He was canonized in 1673. The silver denarii of Leo III still extant bear
the name of the Frankish emperor upon them as well as that of Leo, showing
thereby the emperor as the protector of the Church, and overlord of the city
of Rome. |
| 885 St. Gerebald Bishop of Chalons sur Seine,
France, from 864 until his death. |
855
St. Odulf Augustinian canon established a church among the Frisians and
founded a monastery at Stavoren
Also Odulphus, an Augustinian canon. Born in Oorsch, North
Brabant, he was named a canon of Utrecht and received ordination before taking
part in the missionary enterprise in Friesland being undertaken by Bishop
St. Frederick of Utrecht. Odulf established a church among the Frisians and
founded a monastery at Stavoren. He died at Utrecht. His relics were stolen
in 1034, but were eventually taken to London and placed at Evesham.
855 St Odulf
The most successful of the missionaries
who helped St Frederick to complete the evangelization of Friesland was undoubtedly
St Odulf; churches dedicated to him are still to be found in Holland and
Belgium. He was born at Oorschot in North Brabant, and after his ordination
he had charge of his native town; but afterwards he transferred to Utrecht,
where he attracted the favourable notice of St Frederick, bishop of the diocese.
His eloquence as a preacher as well as his learning induced Frederick to send
him to Friesland, the inhabitants of which were only partially converted.
There St Odulf spent many years labouring with great fruit. According to the
old chronicler he converted his hearers by reiterated instructions—preaching
to the people and leading them into the way of truth through frequent admonitions,
arguments, and rebukes, “until the men who had formerly been, as it were,
ferocious wolves, had been transformed by sound doctrine into peaceable sheep”.
Although he worked in all parts of the Zaanland, his headquarters were at
Stavoren; there he had his church, and there he founded a monastery. In spite
of invitations to return to his own country, he persevered in his missionary
work until he was very old. He then returned to Utrecht, where he died about
the year 855. His body disappeared from its shrine, probably
in a raid by the Northmen, and seems to have been taken to England and to
have found a resting-place at Evesham Abbey, in the year 1034.
At the beginning
of the thirteenth century, a most unpleasant story was somehow copied
into an English manuscript (Rawlinson A 287, in the Bodleian) which contains
the Chronicle of Evesham. It is there narrated that St Odulf when in Friesland,
and himself in the act of offering Mass at Eastertide, was admonished by an
angel to make all haste and go aboard a ship, because his friend St Frederick
had fallen into a terrible sin, but was nevertheless purporting to offer the
Holy Sacrifice. The ship was wafted to Utrecht with inconceivable rapidity,
and Odulf was in time to warn his friend, to hear his confession, and to celebrate
Mass in his stead. Then Frederick disappeared for ten years to do strenuous
penance, and St Odulf meanwhile took his place as bishop. At the end of the
ten years, Frederick, now a model of every virtue, resumed his episcopal
duties and in the end died famous for the miracles he had wrought. There
is not, of course, a shadow of foundation for this in sober history, but
the insertion of such a piece of scandal affords a curious illustration of
the medieval tendency to cherish every story which chronicled the failings
of the great.
The not very
reliable life of St Odulf printed in the Acta Sanctorum; June, vol.
iii, has also been partly edited in Pertz, MGH., Scriptores, vol. xv,
pp. 356—358. See also Macray, Chronicle of Evesham (Rolls Series),
pp. 313—320; and Stanton, English Menology, pp. 265—267.
Odulf of Stavoren, OSA (AC) (also known as Odulphus) Born in
Oorschot, Brabant; died in Utrecht, June 12, c. 855; feasts of his translations
on October 10 and November 24. In his youth, Odulf was remarkable both for
his intelligence and his piety. He was ordained a priest and appointed canon
of Utrecht by Saint Frederick. A few years later Frederick sent him to evangelize
the partially converted Frisians. He founded a church and monastery of Augustinian
canons at Stavoren, which became his center of operations for many years.
He retired to Utrecht, where his body was enshrined and his cultus grew after
his death. Many churches are dedicated to him in both the Netherlands and
Belgium.
His relics are said to have been stolen in 1034 by Viking pirates
and taken to London. Bishop Aelfward of London bought them for a huge sum
and gave them to Evesham Abbey, which he still governed. A later Norman
abbot, Walter, tried to move them to Winchcombe, but the shrine became so
heavy as they continued toward their destination that they had to turn back;
it became light as a feather the closer they got to Evesham. Another time,
Queen Edith tried to take some of Odulf's relics for her private collection,
and was blinded. Thus, says the chronicler, Odulf demonstrated his desire
to remain at Evesham. Unfortunately, these are probably not Odulf's relics.
They were supposedly stolen from Stavoren, while the Utrecht tradition says
they have never been translated from their original burial spot there (Benedictines,
Farmer). In art, Saint Odulf is an Augustinian canon with a bowl for baptizing
in his hand (Roeder). |
10th v. John-Tornike
Eristavi (a Georgian title, meaning literally “head of the army.” a perfect
example of humility. He renounced his own will completely and would do nothing
without a blessing from his spiritual father. “I entrust myself and my will
to you. Save me according to your will!”
An eristavi was the ruler or governor of his province and a
pillar of the Georgian monarchy. During certain periods of Georgian history
the title was hereditary. The title is equivalent to a European duke.) (later
John of Mt. Athos) was a Georgian army commander famed for his victories
in war and a favorite of King David Kuropalates. Eventually he abandoned
his worldly glory and set off in search of his spiritual father, St. John,
on Mt. Olympus. There he learned that St. John had moved to Mt. Athos, so
he journeyed there and settled with him in a monastery headed by St. Athanasius
the Athonite. He was tonsured a monk and given the new name John.
Soon many Georgians became thirsty for the ascetic life and
arrived to labor on the Holy Mountain. To serve the young community, St.
John built a church in honor of St. John the Theologian and constructed cells
nearby. In such a way, the first Georgian community on Mt. Athos was established.
At that time, Bardas Sclerus, commander of the army of Asia
Minor, led a revolt against Basil and Constantine, the young Byzantine emperors.
The dowager empress Theophania, hoping to receive assistance from Georgia,
requested that John-Tornike travel to his homeland, inform the king about
the difficult situation in Byzantium, and rally the Georgian armies for support.
At first John-Tornike refused, doubting his preparedness to return to life
in the world. But after the other brothers pleaded with him and he received
St. Athanasius’ blessing, he returned to Georgia and delivered Theophania’s
letter to King David Kuropalates. The king was overjoyed at the sight of his
favorite military leader, and he consented to the empress’ request, provided
John-Tornike would command the army. The king was resolute and John-Tornike
was compelled to honor his will. With God’s help and under the wise leadership
of John-Tornike, twelve thousand Georgian soldiers defeated the army of the
godless Bardas Sclerus, banishing the conspirator from Byzantium (ca. 979).
After this great victory John-Tornike returned immediately to
Mt. Athos. The brothers met him with great joy and gave thanks to God for
returning him safely to the monastery.
St. John-Tornike was a perfect example of humility. He renounced
his own will completely and would do nothing without a blessing from his
spiritual father. “I entrust myself and my will to you. Save me according
to your will!” he would tell St. John.
|
1080 Eskil (Eskill) bishop
of Strangnäss remains were exposed to the veneration of the faithful,
and were honored with miracles BM (AC) feast day formerly
June 13.
1080 St Eskil, Bishop And Martyr
The name of St Eskil does not
appear in the Roman Martyrology, but until the Reformation he was honoured
in northern Europe as one of the most illustrious martyrs of Scandinavia.
He was said to be English, a kinsman of St Sigfrid, whom he accompanied on
his mission to reconvert Sweden which had almost entirely lapsed into paganism
since the death of St Anskar, its first apostle, in the ninth century. He
was consecrated bishop at Strängnäs, and from that circumstance
later writers have described him as bishop of Strängnäs; but the
see was not founded until 1245, and Eskil was probably a regionary bishop.
He laboured with success in Södermanland, making many converts during
the reign of King Inge, who encouraged and supported the missionaries. Inge,
however, was murdered, and under Sweyn the Bloody a pagan reaction set in.
A great heathen festival was held at Strängnäs which was attended
by many who had professed to be Christians: <>St
Eskil hastened to the assembly and appealed to the people to abandon their
pagan rites. Finding them deaf to his remonstrances he is said to have appealed
to God to give a visible sign that He alone was the true God. Instantly a
violent storm arose which destroyed the altar and its sacrifice, while sparing
the bishop and his attendants. The pagans ascribed this wonder to magic and
by the king’s orders they stoned the saint to death. The place where his body
was laid in 1082 is called after him, Eskilstuna.
There are two
medieval lives (neither very satisfactory), both of which may be found in
Scriptores rerum Suecicarum, vol. ii, part i, pp. 389—404. See
also the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii, and especially S. Lindquist,
Den helige Eskils biskopsdöme (1915), and Toni Schmid, in
Scandia, vol. iv (1931), pp. 102—114. A short English account
is in C. J. A. Oppermann, English Missionaries in Sweden (1937), pp.
103—111; but on this book see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lvii (1939),
pp. 162—164.
Eskil is said to have been an Englishman and a relative of Saint
Sigfrid, whom he accompanied on the latter's mission to reconvert Sweden,
whose people had returned to paganism following the death of Saint Ansgar.
Sigfrid consecrated him bishop of Strangnäss. Eskil preached the Gospel
with some success in Södermanland, until the heathens reacted after the
murder of the friendly king Inge. Then, because he had protested against an
idolatrous festival and called down a violent storm that destroyed a pagan
altar and its sacrifices, he was stoned to death by the people at Strangnäss.
His body was buried on the spot where he died. Within a short time a church
was built there in which his sacred remains were exposed to the veneration
of the faithful, and were honored with miracles. Prior to the Reformation,
Saint Eskil was greatly honored in Sweden, and the place where he was buried,
Eskilstuna, was named after him (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer,
Husenbeth). |
| 7th
v. St. Cuniald & Geslar Confessors |
| 1138 St. Chirstian Bishop
and brother of St. Malachy of Armagh. His Celtic name was Croistan O'Morgair.
In 1126, Christian was named the bishop of Clogher, in Ireland. |
| 1175 St. Marinus, Vimius,
& Zimius The “Three
Holy Exiles’ They were Benedictines
at the Scottish St. James Abbey in Regensburg, Germany. They became hermits
at Griestatten. |
1298 Blessed Jolenta
(Yolanda) of Poland daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary. Her sister, St.
Kunigunde miracles, down to our own day, occurr at her grave
1299 BD JOLENTA OF HUNGARY, WIDOW
JOLENTA, or Helena as she is called by the Poles, was one of four sisters
who are honoured with the title of Blessed. They were the daughters of Bela
IV, King of Hungary, the nieces of St Elizabeth, the great-nieces of St Hedwig,
and lineal descendants of the Hungarian kings St Stephen and St Ladislaus.
When she was five years old, Jolenta was committed to the care of her elder
sister, Bd Cunegund, or Kinga, who had married Boleslaus II, King of Poland.
Under their fostering care, the little girl grew up a pattern of virtue. She
became the wife of Duke Boleslaus of Kalisz, with whom she spent a happy married
life. Both of them were addicted to good works, and together they made various
religious foundations. Jolenta was beloved by all, but especially by the
poor, for whom she had a tender love. After the death of her husband, as
soon as she had settled two of her daughters, she retired with the third and
with Bd Cunegund, now, like herself, a widow, into the convent of Poor Clares
which Cunegund had established at Sandeck. Jolenta's later years, however,
were spent at Gnesen as superior of the convent of which she had been the
foundress. She died there in 1299.
See J. B. Prileszky,
Acta Sanctorum Hungariae,
vol. ii, Appendix, pp. 54-55; Hueber, Menologium
Franciscanum, p. 918; and cf. the bibliography attached to Bd Cunegund
on July 24.
She was married to the Duke of Poland. Jolenta was sent to Poland
where her sister was to supervise her education. Eventually married to Boleslaus,
the Duke of Greater Poland, Jolenta was able to use her material means to
assist the poor, the sick, widows and orphans. Her husband joined her in building
hospitals, convents and churches so that he was surnamed "the Pious."
Upon the death of her husband and the marriage
of two of her daughters, Jolenta and her third daughter entered the convent
of the Poor Clares. War forced Jolenta to move to another convent where,
despite her reluctance, she was made abbess.
So well did she serve her Franciscan sisters by
word and example that her fame and good works continued to spread beyond the
walls of the cloister. Her favorite devotion was the Passion of Christ. Indeed,
Jesus appeared to her, telling her of her coming death. Many miracles, down
to our own day, are said to have occurred at her grave.
Comment: Jolenta’s
story begins like a fairy tale. But fairy tales seldom include the death
of the prince and never end with the princess living out her days in a convent.
Nonetheless, Jolenta’s story has a happy ending. Her life of charity toward
the poor and devotion to her Franciscan sisters indeed brought her to a “happily
ever after.” Our lives may be short on fairy-tale elements, but our generosity
and our willingness to serve well the people we live with lead us toward an
ending happier than we can imagine.
|
1447 Saint
Arsenius of Konevits a native of Novgorod, coppersmith by trade tonsure
at the Lisich monastery near Novgorod, where he spent eleven years went to
Mount Athos in 1373,
and there he spent three years, dwelling in prayer and making copper vessels
for the brethren. In the year 1393, St Arsenius returned to Russia and
brought with him an icon of the Mother of God, which was later called the
Konevits Icon. St Arsenius went with this icon to the island of Konevets on
Lake Ladoga, where he spent five years in solitude.
In 1398, with the blessing of Archbishop John of Novgorod, St
Arsenius laid the foundations of a cenobitic monastery dedicated to the Nativity
of the Most Holy Theotokos. He visited Athos a second time, and asked the
holy Fathers for their prayers and a blessing for his monastery. In
1421 the lake flooded, destroying the monastery structures. This forced St
Arsenius to relocate the monastery to a new site on the island. St Arsenius
died in 1447, and was buried in the monastery church. His Life was written
in the sixteenth century by Igumen Barlaam of Konevits.
Konevets Island (Finnish: Kononsaari) has the maximum length of 5 km; its
average width is 2 km. The island is separated from the mainland by a 5-km-wide
strait. In the Middle Ages, the island was considered holy by the Finnish
tribes who particularly revered a huge boulder in the shape of a horse's skull,
weighing more than 750 tons. This boulder is known as Kon'-Kamen' (literally,
"Steed-Stone") and gives its name to the island.
The monastery was founded around
1393 by St. Arseny Konevsky, who wished to convert pagan Finns to Christianity.
The location of the monastery was changed several times, in order to avert
floods. The cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos was founded by St.
Arseny in 1428. The Swedes captured the island during the Ingrian War, forcing
the monks to retreat to Novgorod. Only after Russia retook the territory
in the course of the Great Northern War they were allowed to reclaim their
ancient possessions in Konevets. The revived cloister depended upon Novgorod
until 1760, when it was officially recognized as a separate monastic establishment.
In 1812, after the Finnish War the monastery administratively became part
of the newly-formed Grand Duchy of Finland, along with the rest of "Old Finland".
The golden age of the monastery came with the 19th century,
when its fame spread to the imperial capital and the island was frequented
by eminent visitors from Saint Petersburg, including Alexandre Dumas and
Fyodor Tyutchev. As a consequence of its high profile, the monastic community
could fund extensive building projects, starting with the construction of
a new cathedral in 1800-09. This huge two-storey eight-pillared building
was designed by a local starets. It is surmounted by five octagonal drums
bearing five blue bud-shaped domes. The same style is applied to the three-storey
belltower (1810-12), rising to the height of 35 meters. Two sketae were set
up to mark the ancient locations of the monastery.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the monastery passed to
the newly independent Finland, and came under the jurisdiction of the autonomous
Finnish Orthodox Church. The island was fortified by the
Konevets_Theotokos_Valamo_Monastery_Finland_Front_Back
Finnish military. During the Winter War and Continuation War the monastery
buildings were damaged. On 13 March 1940 the monks escaped from the Soviets
to Finland, taking the holy icon with them, but leaving the iconostasis,
church bells, and the library. The monks subsequently joined the monks escaping
from the Valaam Monastery and founded the New Valamo Monastery in Finland.
During the Soviet period, the monastery housed a military unit.
In 1990 it became one of the first monasteries in the region to be revived
by the Russian Orthodox Church. In November 1991, the brethren announced
the discovery of St. Arseny's relics, that apparently had been hidden from
the Swedes in 1573. By 2004, the Konevsky Monastery, which hosts a large
number of tourists and pilgrims, had been mostly restored. |
|
1450 Bd Stephen Bandelli;
doctor of canon
law, University of Pavia professorship, honoured as a
saint and a wonder-worker;
One of the most successful preachers of the Dominican Order in the
first half of the fifteenth century was Friar Stephen Bandelli. He was born
in 1369 in northern Italy, and received the Dominican habit at Piacenza. His
piety and obedience were an inspiration to his brethren, while his learning
obtained for him the degree of doctor of canon law and a professorship in
the University of Pavia. But it was in the pulpit and in the confessional
that he specially shone. Wherever he preached, in Liguria and elsewhere, crowds
assembled to hear him, and innumerable sinners were converted from the error
of their ways. He died at the age of eighty-one at Saluzzo, in the diocese
of Turin, and was honoured as a saint and a wonder-worker. Thirty-seven years
after his death, when Saluzzo was surrounded by a hostile force, strange forms
appeared in the sky, which were held to be those of our Lady and Bd Stephen;
the enemy withdrew without laying siege to the town, and the people of Saluzzo,
in gratitude to Bd Stephen, instituted an annual procession in his honour.
Pope Pius IX. confirmed his ancient cultus
in 1856.
See Seeböck,
Die Herrlichkeit der Katholischen Kirche, pp. 127 seq. Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp.
174-175; Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus
O.P.
|
1463 St.
John of Sahagun educated by the Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there
and when twenty, received a canonry from the bishop of Burgos Augustinian friar famous for his miracles,
and had the gift of reading men's souls
Sancti Joánnis a sancto Facúndo, ex Eremitárum sancti
Augustíni Ordine, Confessóris, qui migrávit in cælum
prídie hujus diéi.
St. John of St. Facundus, confessor of the Order of the Hermits of St.
Augustine, who died on the 11th of June.
1479 St John of
Sahagun; granted to behold with bodily eyes the human
form of our Lord at the moment of consecration; was glorified by many miracles,
both before and after his death.
There was
an early Spanish martyr named Facundus, and he seems to have been adopted
as patron by the abbey of Sahagun or San Fagondez in the kingdom of Leon.
This locality was the birthplace of this John, and from it he derives his
distinctive surname. His early education he received from the monks in the
Benedictine monastery just mentioned. While he was yet a boy, his father,
Don Juan Gonzalez de Castrillo, procured for him a small benefice, and when
he was twenty the bishop of Burgos gave him a canonry in his cathedral, although
the abbot of San Fagondez had already presented him with three other livings.
Pluralism was one of the chief abuses of the age, but was leniently regarded
in many quarters as being a necessary evil in view of the alleged meagreness
of many stipends. John from his early youth led a moral, upright life—exemplary
in the eyes of ordinary Christians—but as he grew older he was led by divine
grace to see much that was imperfect in his conduct and to set himself seriously
to amend.
He had received the priesthood
in 1445, and his conscience reproached him for disobeying the Church’s ordinances
against pluralities. He accordingly resigned all his benefices except the
chapel of St Agatha in Burgos. There he daily celebrated Mass, frequently
catechized the ignorant, and preached, leading the while a very mortified
life in evangelical poverty. Realizing the necessity for a sounder knowledge
of theology, he then obtained the bishop’s permission to go to Salamanca University,
where he studied for four years.
His course completed, he soon
won a great reputation as a preacher and director of souls in the parish of
St Sebastian, Salamanca, which he seems to have worked while holding one of
the chaplaincies in the College of St Bartholomew. Nine years were thus spent,
and then St John, faced with the ordeal of a severe operation, vowed that
if his life were spared he would receive the religious habit. The operation
having proved successful, he made his application to the superior of the local
community of Augustinian friars, who admitted him with alacrity, for
his merits were known to all. A year later, on August 28, 1464, he was professed.
He had already so fully acquired the spirit of his rule that no one in the
convent was more mortified, more obedient, more humble or more detached
than he. He spoke with such eloquence and fervour that his sermons, coupled
with his private exhortations, produced a complete reformation of manners
in Salamanca. He had a wonderful gift for healing dissensions and succeeded
in ending many of the feuds which were the bane of society, especially amongst
the young nobles. Not only did he induce his penitents to forgive injuries
and to forego revenge, but he led many of them to return good for evil.
Soon after his profession St
John was appointed novice-master, an office he discharged with great wisdom.
Seven times in succession he was definitor and he also became prior of Salamanca.
It was a house which was famous for its discipline, and that discipline St
John maintained far more by his example than by severity, for the high opinion
everyone had of his sanctity lent the greatest weight to his advice and admonitions.
He was, moreover, endowed with a judicious discernment and with a remarkable
gift for reading the thoughts of his penitents. He heard the confessions of
all who presented themselves, but was rigid in refusing, or at least deferring,
absolution in the case of habitual sinners, or of ecclesiastics who did not
live in accordance with the spirit of their profession. His fervour in offering
the divine sacrifice edified all present, although his superior sometimes
reproved him for the length of time he took in celebrating Mass. We are also
told that he was one of those to whom it has been granted to behold with bodily
eyes the human form of our Lord at the moment of consecration. The graces
he received in his prayers and communions also gave him courage and eloquence
in the pulpit. Without respect of persons he reproved vice in high places
with a vigour which sometimes drew upon him persecution and even physical
violence.
A sermon at Alba, in the course
of which he sternly denounced rich landlords who oppressed their poor tenants,
so enraged the Duke of Alba that he sent two assassins to kill the bold preacher.
In the presence of their intended victim, however, the men were struck with
remorse, confessed their errand and humbly implored his forgiveness. On another
occasion certain women of the city whose loose life he had reproved attempted
to stone him, and were only prevented from causing him grievous injury by
the appearance of a patrol of archers. A prominent personage whose unblushing
association with a woman not his wife was causing grave scandal in Salamanca
was induced by St John to sever the connection entirely. The woman vowed vengeance
on the holy man and it was generally believed that the disorder of which
he died was occasioned by poison administered at her instigation. He
passed away on June 11, 1479. He was glorified by many miracles,
both before and after his death, and was canonized in 1690.
The most reliable
source for the life of St John of Sahagun is an account written by John of
Seville in the form of letters addressed to Duke Gonsalvo of Cordova. They
have been translated into Latin from the original Spanish, and are printed
in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii. The Bollandists
have also collected a certain amount of information from other later writers.
There is also a summary written about a hundred years after the death of St
John by his fellow Augustinian, the famous preacher, Bd Alphonsus d’Orozco.
It will be found printed in M. Vidal, Agustinos de Salamanca,
vol. i (1751), pp. 51 seq. The best modern life
seems to be that by T. Camara (1891) in Spanish.
Seventeenth-century lives in Spanish and French are numerous; several are
mentioned in U. Chevalier’s Bio-Bibliographie.
John Gonzales de Castrillo was born at Sahagun, Leon Spain. He was educated by the Benedictine
monks of Fagondez monastery there and when twenty, received a canonry from
the bishop of Burgos, though he already had several benefices. He was ordained
in 1445; concerned about the evil of pluralism, he resigned all his benefices
except that of St. Agatha in Burgos. He spent the next four years studying
at the University of Salamanca and then began to preach. In the next decade
he achieved a great reputation as a preacher and spiritual director, but after
recovering after a serious operation, became an Augustinian friar in 1463 and was professed
the following year. He served as master of novices, definitor, prior at Salamanca,
experienced visions, was famous for his miracles, and had the gift of reading
men's souls. He denounced evil in high places and several attempts
were made on his life. He died at Sahagun on June 11, reportedly poisoned
by the mistress of a man he had convinced to leave her. He was canonized in
1690 as St. John of Sahagun.
John of Sahagun, OSA (RM) (also known as John of Saint Facundo)
Born at Sahagun, León, Spain, c. 1430 (?); died in Salamanca, June
11, 1479; beatified in 1601; canonized in 1690.
Saint John was educated by the Benedictines at the great abbey
of his native Sahagun (from Sant'Facun). While he was still a boy, his father,
Don Juan Gonzalez de Castrillo, procured for him a small benefice. The bishop
of Burgos and the abbot of Sahagun gave him four other benefices by the time
he was 20, because his family was influential and these leaders recognized
a promise of greatest in John. Thus, when John was ordained in 1453, he held
five benefices in Burgos at the same time without holding residence in any
of them--two acts of disobedience to Church ordinances. Instead he was majordomo
in the household of the bishop.
Repenting of such pluralism upon the bishop's death, he gave
up all but the one assigned to the chapel of Saint Agnes in Burgos, where
he celebrated the Eucharist daily, catechized the ignorant, and preached.
He had converted his life to one of evangelical poverty. With this benefice
John financed his theological studies at the University of Salamanca. The
education he received there gave him the confidence he need to minister more
effectively in the nearby parish of Saint Sebastian, while holding a chaplaincy
in the College of Saint Bartholomew.
At that time Salamanca was deeply divided and crime-ridden,
which gave John ample opportunity to preach reconciliation and conversion.
He followed up his preaching with individual counselling in the confessional.
John had a remarkable gift for reading souls, which drew still more to his
confessional. He was rigid in refusing or deferring absolution to habitual
sinners and ecclesiastics who did not live in accordance with the spirit
of their profession. John's fervor in offering the Mass edified all who assisted.
In fact, it is related that he was privileged to see the bodily form of Jesus
at the moment of consecration. The grace God poured into his soul during
his prayers and communions overflowed into his preaching--especially against
vice in high places.
After a grave illness in 1463, he requested entry into the Augustinian
friary in the same city and was professed on August 28, 1464. Soon after
he undertook the office of novice-master, while continuing his public preaching.
His work for reconciliation bore fruit: a pact of peace was signed by hostile
parties in 1476. About that time he was elected prior by his community.
In 1479, John predicted his own death, which occurred the same
year. At Alba de Tormes his life was threatened by two thugs hired by the
duke because of his public denunciation of oppressive landlords. In John's
presence, however, the would-be assassins were struck with remorse, confessed
their errand, and begged his forgiveness. But John's preaching brought further
rancor. It is said that John's death was hastened by poisoning, brought about
by a woman in Salamanca whose paramour he had reformed.
By his fearless preaching, John effected profound change in
the social life of Salamanca; for this he won the popular acclamation of
apostle of Salamanca. Soon after his death, miracles and pilgrimages occurred
at his tomb. His relics survive in a feretory in the cathedral of his adopted
city of which he is patron. In art, he is portrayed with a host in his hand
in memory of his devotion to the Eucharist (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia,
Farmer, Walsh). |
1542 Monk Stephen of Ozersk
and Komel'sk led a strict life granted to see the MostHoly Virgin and Saint
Nicholas, who besought the Mother of God to bless Saint Stephen to establish
a monastery. In the year 1534 the Monk Stephen built a church in the name
of Saint Nicholas
Born in the latter half of the XV Century in the Vologda lands.
His father served at the prince's court, but the mundane life was not for
the soul of the youth. He went off to the Glushitsk monastery of the Monk
Dionysii, where he soon accepted monastic tonsure. With the blessing of the
Glushitsk hegumen, the Monk Stephen made the rounds of the northern monasteries,
in order to discover the spiritual customs. Having returned to the Vologda
lands, he settled near the source of the River Komela. The Monk Stephen led
a strict life. Once during the time of tearful prayer the monk was granted
to see the MostHoly Virgin and Saint Nicholas, who besought the Mother of
God to bless Saint Stephen to establish a monastery. In the year 1534 the
Monk Stephen built a church in the name of Saint Nicholas. The monk reposed
peacefully in the year 1542. |
1592 Saint Onuphrius of
Mala and Pskov [Izborsk] founded a monastery in honor of the Nativity of the
Mother of God at Mala, four versts from Izborsk and 56 versts from Pskov
The saint died on June 12, 1592 and was buried in the Nativity
church, in a chapel named for him.
The memory of St Onuphrius is also celebrated on the so-called
"Malsk Sunday," the first Sunday after the Peter and Paul Fast. |
1626 Blessed Louis Naisen a seven year old
Japanese boy, son of Blessed John and Monica Naisen. He was beheaded in
Nagasaki (Benedictines). M (AC)
Born in 1619; beatified in
1867. |
1650
Anna of Kashin died
on October 2, 1338. The Holy Right-
Believing Princess; solemn transfer
of her relics from the wooden Dormition cathedral into the stone Resurrection
church took place on June 12, 1650; many miracles took place at her
tomb; A Church council
decided to glorify the holy Princess Anna as a saint, and her holy relics
were uncovered on July 21, 1649. The solemn transfer of her relics from the
wooden Dormition cathedral into the stone Resurrection church took place
on June 12, 1650.
However, the memory of St Anna, who had received a crown of
glory from Christ, could not be erased by decree. People continued to love
and venerate her, and many miracles took place at her tomb.
On June 12, 1909 her second glorification took place, and her
universally observed Feast day was established. Her Life describes her as
a model of spiritual beauty and chastity, and an example to future generations. |
| 1894 St. Cunera A British virgin
venerated in Germany. |
1971 Blessed Manuel
Lozano Garrido
Also known as Lolo (nickname) Memorial 3 November
Profile
Joined Catholic Action at age 11. As a teenager during the Spanish Civil
War he visited prisoners and would sneak them Holy Communion; he developed
a strong devotion to the Eucharist and spent a Holy Thursday in prison alone
with a Host hidden in some flowers. Lifelong layman, and a working journalist
in the diocese of Jaén, Spain. In 1942 he contracted spondylitis, and
a slow paralysis began to set in; a year later was confined to a wheelchair,
a condition that would last the rest of his life. He lost his sight in 1962;
when he lost use of his right hand, he learned to write with his left; when
it became paralyzed, he dictated his work to his sister. Though he progressively
lost use of his body, he worked for newspapers, Catholic periodicals and
the Associated Press, founded the magazine Sinai, won the prestigious Bravo
award for journalism in 1969, and wrote nine books on spirituality.
Born 9 August 1920 in Linares, Jaén, Spain
Died 3 November 1971 in Linares, Jaén, Spain of natural causes
Venerated 17 December 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified 12 June 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI
recognition to be celebrated in Linares, Jaén, Spain, presided by
Archbishop Angelo Amato
|
Mary Mother of GOD June 12 - Mary
Queen of China (Shanghai, 1924) 
Saint of the Day June 12 Prídie Idus Júnii. 
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 
Benedict XVI met with Aram I Catholicos of
Cilicia, the highest authority of the Orthodox Church. The
Pope remembered the martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian
genocide, without explicitly mentioning it, and denounced the persecution
of Christians in modern times. Benedict XVI
As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming
to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and
even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan,
Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed
in living color on our television screens. 